No reprieve: Execution chamber and the lethal injection table at California’s San Quentin State Prison

Only nine states in the U.S. exercised the right to execute their prisoners this year – the lowest figure in 20 years – as use of the death penalty fades.

A total of 43 inmates were killed across America this year, with Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi accounting for more than three-quarters of the executions.

33 U.S. states still have the death penalty although fewer and fewer are using it, according to a report released Tuesday by a nonprofit company that tracks death penalty data.

‘There are still 33 states with the death penalty, but very few are actually regularly carrying out executions’, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and author of the report told Reuters.

Forty-three inmates were also executed last year but across 13 states executed inmates. No more executions are scheduled for this year.

Ohio and Florida each executed three inmates. South Dakota executed two, and Delaware and Idaho each executed one. All of the executions were by lethal injection.

The US Supreme Court banned execution in 1972 following a ruling that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the constitution.

It authorised its resumption in 1976 and states could decide whether they wanted it or not.

Several states that traditionally have supported the use of executions carried out none this year.

U.S. DEATH ROW: KEY FACTS

In the US, about 13,000 people have been legally executed since the colonial era.

Virginia has executed a larger percentage of its population than any other state with a population of more than a million.

Twelve people who have been sentenced to death in Texas in the modern era have been exonerated.

The use of lethal injection has become standard. Other methods have included electrocution, firing squad, lethal gas and hanging.

There are more than 3,000 offenders on death row in the US

Virginia which has the second highest number of executions behind Texas since it was reinstated in 1976 is one state that decided against its use.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Missouri recorded no executions this year.

Mr Dieter explained that it is no longer seen as a appropriate punishment for a crime, but not for humane reasons, but rather the expense and the time it takes for them to take place after sentencing – up to 20 years in certain cases.

Texas remains unwavering in its belief in the punishment where it is considered a fitting and ‘constitutional punishment for the most heinous crimes’, according to Governor Rick Perry’s office

Connecticut, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and New Mexico all recently repealed the death penalty, bringing the total number of states without the punishment to 17.

Attempts to repeal it are expected in Maryland, Colorado and New Hampshire.

In the US, about 13,000 people have been legally executed since the colonial era.

Inhumane? The Texas death chamber in Huntsville. Texas accounted for 15 executions this year

Dying out: Executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, Richard Dieter, said that the death penalty is considered too expensive a punishment that can take up to 20 years to carry out after sentencing